Apparatus for treating wires



May 12, 1931. P. WRIGHT 1,804,486

' I APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRES Filed Aug. 18, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1L'Snventor ,Parvin Wn'ghi dttorncg May 12, 1931. I wRlGHT 1,804,486

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRES Filed Aug. 18, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May12, 1931. P. WRIGHT APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRES 4 SheetS Sheet 3 FiledAug. 18, 1928 Inmentor faraz'nWfy/zi Qttomcg May 12, 1931. P. WRIGHT1,804,486

APPARATUS F OR TREATING.WIRES Filed Aug. 18. 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 123in? Z Inventor llmllllllnum HDHHIIHHHII 1 Gttorneg Patented May 1 2,1931 PARVIN WRIGHT, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON APPARATUS FOR TREATING WIRESApplication filed August 18, 1928. Serial No. 300,490.

This invention relates to apparatus for treating wire, and has for itsobject to provide' a construction more simple in parts and moreefficient in use than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the noveldetails of construction and combinations of parts as will be more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification in which like numerals designate like parts in all theviews,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a wire treating apparatus made inaccordance with this invention, the cover of said apparatus beingremoved to more clearly show the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken as on the line 22-of Fig. 1and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a slightly modified form of apparatusinvolving th principles of this invention;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional; view of the parts shown in Fig. 3 takenas on the line 4-4 thereof and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is atopplan view partly in section of a detail of the meansemployed to stop the functioning of the apparatus, said view being takenas on the line 5-501 Fig. 4: and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a detail view in horizontal section of the electric contactmembers cooperating with and forming part of'the means therewith forpreventing a too rapid cooling of the heated wires; Fig. 8 is anenlarged sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. *4 and looking inthe direction of the arrows; Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional detailillus-v trating the, support. for the axle .of the drums employed inthis ap aratus;

Fig. 10 is a partial verticsil sectional view taken as on the line 10-10of Fig. 8 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 11 is a detail vertical sectional view taken as on the line '11-11of Fig. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view illustratin the details of assembly ofdrum parts an their associated axle.

In order that this invention may be the better understood it is saidthat this apparatus'is particularly adaptedto processes of annealing,tempering, galvanizing and elec tro-plating wire, an object oftheinvention being to' provide means for exposing the longest length ofwire in the most confined space to the action of heat, to the action ofthe bath desired, and to the action of electric currents, etc. as willbe readily understood by one skilled in the art.

drums so that the convolutions will lie in a single substantiallycylindrical lane and said convolutions will be automaically set backduring the continuousfeed of the wire toand from each drum. In order toaccomplish this result the dr is formed with a plurality of rollers paced 'circum-, ferentially thereof, each roller rovided {in its surfacewith a thread or he 'cal groove of the same pitch as the ooves of theother rollers, and each rol er is adapted to rotate about its own axisin time with the revolutions of the drum as a whole, with the resultthat each roller revolves once on its ,axis with each complete turn ofthe drum.- By this arrangement there will be provided an empty thread orgroove at the end of each roller to receive the on-coming' wire.

In practice it is now customary to pass wires through long troughscontaining molten metal which is to be used as a coating for the wire,the wire bein made to lie submerged in the metal, but ue to the longdimension of these troughs the metal is subjected to rapid cooling,oxidation, evaporation and other waste, entailing not ohly loss ofmetal, time, and labor but the unnecessary utilization of valuable floorarea.

According to this invention the-wire is subjected to the same processesand treatments in tanks which occu y but a very small floor area ascompared to the heretofore used apparatus.

A chamber is indicated by the numeral 1 while 2 indicates a tank inwhich a drum is mounted. The drum comprises s aced heads- 3 and 4 with aplurality of freely rotatable rollers 5 therebetween, said rollershaving formed thereon a continuous thread or spiral groove 6 of the samepitch. The

rollers are placed relatively close to each other in circular formationas clearly shown in ,Fig. 2 and each may be made Qf any suitablematerial, cast iron for example when used in molten metal, and porcelainfor example when used in electro-plating processes. 7 is a stationaryear secured to an axle 8 the ends of whic rest in brackets 9 carried byopposite walls of the tank 2. With articular reference to Figs. 1, 2, 9and 12 1t will be seen that the stationary gear 7 is or may be rovidedwith a central hub extension 10 aving a pin 11 passing therethrough gaswell as through the axle 8. The drum head 3 is centrally apertured torotatably fit the hub 10 of the gear 7. The

ends of the axle 8 extend beyond the drum heads having secured theretoas by the pin 12 a squared nut 13 which is adapted to fit arectangularly recessed supporting bracket -9 to revent rotation oftheaxle, the said brac et being secured to a wall of the tank 2 as bythe bolts 14.

Totwo or more of the rollers 5 is secured a spur gear which is adaptedto enmesh with and walk around the stationary gear 7. In Fig. 2 there isillustrated three of these cslpur gears 20, 21 and 22 all of the sameiameter and number of teeth as the stationary gear 7, so that thewinding'of the wire onto and ofi of the drum, will cause said drum torotate. Inother words, the wire wound about the rollers will act as somany belts, and inasmuch as the stationary gear 7 and each of the spurgears secured to the rollers 5 are of equal diameter and number of teeththen it will be readily seen that in one revolution of the drum eachroller will be rotated once. Further, it should be stated, the rollers 5constitute screws having the same itch and diameter, and are so mountedt at, when each arrives at the exuppermost position during therevolution of the drum, the end of the groove o will be in the samelocation. 'This results in the threads of each roller being advancedone-ninth of the pitch of the next following roller, when nine rollersare employed as shown, since each roller makes one complete" each rollerin one of its cycles advances the Wire longitudinally of the drum adistance equal to the dimension of a thread and furthermore advancessaid wire with respect to the roller due to the revolving thereofwhereby no portion of the wire remains in contact with any roller but,on the other hand, the wire is caused to creep or move circumferentiallyof the drum in a direction toward the point of take-off. I

The on-coming wire is illustrated at 25 moving in the direction of thearrows in Figs. 1 and 2. On the top of a wall of the chamber 1 there ispositioned a guiding sheave 27 over which the wire passes and thencethrough an opening 28 in the tank 2 within which the drum roper ismounted, said tank being provide with a removable cover 30. Theon-coming wire is then directed into the grooves of the plural rollers 5so that the wire is given a helical position with respect to all of therollers of the drum. In other words, due to the threads or grooves ofeach roller, the wire will be made to lie therein and passfrom oneroller to the next, receding one groove after having contacted all ofsaid rollers, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the on-coming wirestriking the drum near one head thereof such as 4, and leaving said drumnear the other head 3 and passing out of the tank 2 as through theopening 31 and thence through a device 26 which may be a wiper, or atempering tank at the top 'of the wall of the chamber 1 as clearlyindicated. The treated wire iudicated by the numeral 33' then passes toa reel 34 having associated therewith any means for rotating I gear 35meshing wlth a pinion 36 driven by a motor 37. The tank 2 is su portedwithin the chamber 1 in any suitable manner to provide there below acombustion chamber 40 receiving heat from any source such as the blastnozzle 41' associated with the oil supply line 42 controlled by thevalve 43.

The drums, will be made in varying lengths according to the process towhich the wire is subjected. In other words, if the wire is to betreated for only a short duration of time, the drums will be of smallerdimension between the heads than if the wire is .to be subjected to aproces involving a longer period of time Stated in other words, the timenecessary to treat the wire will be the governing factor together withthe temperature involved and therefore the .size of the drum as well asthe speed at treatment for the same or different urations reference toFigs. 3, 4

and 8 it will be seen that the tank is provided with a plurality ofdrums each of which has the heads 3 and 4 above described, and at eachdrum has associated with its head 3 the stationary gear 7 pinned to axle8 which is-common to all of the drums, and that said common axle issupported inbrackets 9, exactly as hereinbefore described, to preventrotation of said axle. It will also be seen that each drum has dis osedbetween the heads thereof a plurality 0 roll ers 5 having the grooves orthreads 6 in the surface thereof, that each rollerI is free to rotatebetween the drum heads, and that there are provided the spur gears 20,21 and 22 enmeshing with the stationary ear 7-, so that as the wire iswound about t e rollers of each drum, said drum will be caused to rotate"about the axle 8 as a center. If de sired a guard plate may be placedcircumferentially of the drum heads to extend over theintermeshing gears20, 21 and 22.

By the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 8 it .willthus' be seen thatwires of different diameters may be subjected to treatment in the tank2, 'or' a plurality of wires of the same size may betreatedsimultaneously, and it is obvious that wire may be led onto andtakenfrom one of the drums at a speed' different from the speed at which-wireis laid on and taken off of one-ofthe other drums.

Figs. 3,4, 8 and 11 particularly disclose a wire treatment by electricmethod, such for example as electroplating, It often happens that wirewhich is to be plated is har or irregular high-tempered product, so thatsoftening and an even annealing is 'required before the wire is coatedand in these figures of drawings an apparatus :is

' shown which combines this heat treatment cal heating unit disposed onthe side of the tank 2,by means of which the wire is heated before itpasses to thelaying and spacing drums, and there is employed a pair ofelectrodes withinthe tank in close proximity to the wire on the drums,and further there is provided a reeling device, all of which areelectrically connected in such manner that the current is broken to eachwhen the wire becomes slack.

Secured to the side of the tank. 2 is a transformer heating unit theprimary coil of which is wound in sections in the usual manner so thatthe current and degree of heat can be controlled by means of theelectrical switch 51, as well understood. The core 52 of thistransformer unit has upward projecting ends 53 and 54 the extremities ofwhich carry metallic grooved sheaves 55 and 56 respectively over whichthe on-coming wire '25 passes before reaching the rollers 5 of thetreating drums. The on-coming wire completes the -ath for the induced orsecondar circuit 0 said heating unit between said sheaves and the wiresthemselves form the heated element of said circuit.

It is desirable toenclose the heated oncoming wire in order to avoidoxidation and prevent too rapid cooling thereof and in connection withthis it is to be understood that the distance between the heating unitand the tank will be regulated to suit the different sizes of wire to beultimately treated.-

Figs. 4 and 7 articularly show the means for enclosing t ese wires, saidmeans comprising a non-magnetic tube 60 supported 'at about itsmid-length by outwardly exrod 63 is to be maintained against rotationbut. that the sheaves 55 and 56 are loosely mounted thereon, beingmaintained in correct positions by spacing collars 64.

Insulatedly mounted in opposite walls of the tank 2 and extendinthereacross are rods and 71 for suita ly' supporting a plurality ofelectrolytic members forming electrodes such as 72 and 73 respectiveleach electrode arcuately'formed to closely t aboutthe rollers 5 of'thewire laying drums,

there being a pair of electrodes for each .drum. The electrodes areconnected through their supporting rods by a common wire .74 from whichleads a wire 75 to one pole of a double pole main line switch 79. The

sheaves 55 and corresponding sheaves 76 on the opposite side of the tank2 are connected throu h their supports by the common wire from whichleads a wire 78 to the other pole of said switch so that itwill thus beseen that theelectric current from the electrodes will pass throughthe'solution within the tank, abstract a metal thereof by decomposition.and deposit said metal rollers of the drum, this being made possible looelectrically upon the wirepassing around the by the charge of electriccurrent on the wire as received from the charged metallic sheaves and76, and further due to the fact that the rollers 5 in electro-platingprocesses will be made of non-conducting material such as porcelain orthe like.

After the Wire has been electrically treated for plating, it will movein the direction of the arrow from the sheaves 76 to the reels 34 whichare rotated as by the gear 35 enmeshing with the pinion 36 mounted onthe. axis of the motor 37 receiving electric current over the wires 80and 81. The motors and the gears connected with the winding reels 34will be appropriately timed in accordance with the wire being treatedand the solution through which the wire is being passed.

The wire 80 above referred to is connected to the pole of the doublepole main line switch 7 9 to which the wire 78 is connected whereas thewire 81 leads to a switch member 82 adapted to make and break contactwith an electrical conductor 83 insulatedly mounted on the transformerheater unit above referred to, andfrom said electrical conductor 83leads a wire 84 to the other pole of the switch 79. For convenience thebar 85 of the switch 79 is controlled by a solenoid 86 -whose winding isconnected in the circuit of wire Bet, so that when the switch members 82and 83 become disengagedthe flow of current will be broken through saidsolenoid permitting movement of the bar '85 to disengage the main lineswitch 79. In Fig. 4, one side of the transformer switch is connected asby the wire 87 to one pole of a double pole main line switch 88, whilefrom the other pole thereof leads the wire 89 back to the other side ofsaid transformer switch. Also it will be seen from said figure that thebar 85 of switch 79 is extended and forms the bar of switch 88, the useof the two main line switches 79Eand 88 being adopted in order toutilize both direct and alternating cur-- rents, the former necessaryfor the plating process and the reeling motor, and the latter used forthe transformer heat unit. Thus it will be seen that the solenoid causesthe opening of both main line switches 79 and 88, as a resultof whichthe movement of the wire over the sheaves and through the plating bathwill be stopped, the preheating of the wire will be stopped, and theelectricalaction of the bath solution will be stopped,

all at the same time.

The on-coming wire 25 1s tralnedover an idler sheave 90 carried at theend of an arm 91 pivotally mounted asat 92 for vertical movement withina bracket 93 carstood that there is a sheave 90 for each-of the wiresleading to the plurality ofdrums.

There is formed a depending extension of the arm 91 which carries theabove referred to knife blade '82, and a spring 94 is disposed betweenthe bracket 93and the arm 91 to place the latter under a tension tendingto move the idler pulley 90 into an elevated position such as indicatedby the dotted lines in Fig. 4. The pulley 90 is however, maintained inits full line position by the on-coming wire 25 so long as said wire ismaintained in substantially taut condition as it is normally intravelling from the source of the'wire through the apparatus abovedescribed. When, however, the wire becomes broken at a point between itssource and the winding reel 34, there will be a slack in said wire whichwill be sufficient to permit the upward movement of the idler pulley 90and when this occurs the knife blade 82 will be moved out of electricalcontact with its companion switch member 83 with the result that thecurrent will be broken as hereinbefore explained, to the electrolyte andto the particular winding reel associated with the wire which has beenbroken. Not only this, but the current will be broken also through theinduced or secondary circuit of the heating transformer unit, since theupward movement of the pulley 90 will cause an upward movement ofthe'on-coming wire 25 to such a position as indicated by the dottedlines in Fig. 4 and this will cause said stretch of on-coming wire tomove from actual contact with the charged sheave 56.

From the foregoing it will thus be seen that by this invention there isprovided an apparatus for treating wire having in combination electricalmeans to heat said wire, said means comprising an electrical transformerunit and'characterized by the fact that the wire itself forms aresistance element of the heating circuit together with electrical meansto coat the annealed wire both of said electrical means being commonlycontrolled. Also, there is provided means disposed between the heatingand coatingmeans to maintain the elevated temperature of said wire, aswell as electrical means to reel the coated wire, said last named meansbeing commonly controlled with the heating and coating means. Lastlythere is provided automatic means controlled by the wire tosimultaneously stop the heating, the coating and the reeling means, saidautomatic means being connected in circuit withsaid coating and reelingmeans.-

It will be also seen that this apparatus contemplates a means for movlngthe wire through a. tank such as the motor driven reel 34, andmeanscomprising a rotatable drum consisting of a. plurality of rollers whichare located within the tank for receiving and supporting the moving wirein such manner that the entire surface of the wire may receive treatmentfrom the solutions within the tank. This is an important feature of theinvention in that by the planetary movement of the rollers 5constituting the drum, each roller will berotated about its own axiswhile the roller as a whole is moved circularly about the shaft 8 as anaxis. By this movement, the wire does not stay ,in surface contact withany roller for an appreciable length of time, but on the other hand thewire is caused to creep longitudinally while it is being moved in acircular path within the tank all to the end that the entire surface ofthe wire is subjected to the action of the solution within the tank.

Also it will be observed that due to the threads formed on each roller,there is a.

tendency if the rollers did not rotate for said threads to move the wirein a direction parallel to the axle 8, said direction being opposite tothe intended movement of the 'wire from the point where it is laid on tothe point where it is taken ofi the drum. By rotating the rollers andmounting them as hereinbefore stated, the pitch of the threads makes itpossible for each roller to have a groove ready to receive the wire fromthe preceding roller, and each groove will cause a receding of thewirefrom the point where it is laid on the drum, with the result that.

the wire will be progressively moved from the inlet to the outlet ofsaid tank. This might be worded differently by stating that there isprovided a rotating drum for reeling the wire in a single layer acrossits face each coil of the wire being in spaced relation from the othercoils, the drum surface comprising a plurality of independently rotatinggrooved rollers to automatically recede the progressive turns of thecoils from the point where they are laid in the grooves of the rollers,this being done as rapidly as the wire is taken off of the drum. This isnecessary in order that the successive rollers have a groove or threadto receive the wire as it leaves the precedmg roller while at the sametime causing no portion of the. wire to remain in contact with anyroller, and fur ther permitting the travel of the wire from the pointwhere it is laid onto the drum to the point'where it istaken therefrom.

It-is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction as well as arrangements of parts without departing from thespirit of the invention and it is therefore not desired to be limited tothe foregoing except as may be required by the claims.

, What is claimed is 1. In an apparatus means to coat the annealed wire;means to reel the coated mm; and means to simultafor treating wire thecombination of means to anneal sald wire;-

neously reelmg means.

combination of electrical means 0 one chara different character'to coatthe annealed wire; electrical means connected to said second named meansto reel the coated wire; and means to simultaneously stop the heating,the coating, and the reeling means.v

3. In an apparatus for treating wire the combination of alternatingcurrent actuated means including said wire to heat said wire; directcurrent actuated means to coat the annealed wire; means including amotor connected in parallel with said second named means to reel thecoated wire; and means to simultaneously stop the heating, the coating,and the reeling means.

4. In an apparatus for treating wire the combination of electrical meansto heat said wire; electrical means to coat the annealed wire;electrical means to reel the coated wire; and automatic means tosimultaneously stop the heating, the coating and the reelmg means, saidautomatic means being connected in circuit with the second and thirdnamed means.

5. In an apparatus for treating wire the combination of means to heatsaid wire before it reaches the coating bath, said means comprising anelectrical transformer unit including said wire as a resistance element;means to coat the annealed wire; means to reel the coated wire; andmeans to simultaneously stop the heating, the coating and the reelinmeans.

6. 1%1 an apparatus for treating wire the combination of electricalmeans to heat said wire; electrical means to coat the annealed stop theheating, the coating and the 2. In an apparatus for treatin wire thewire; electrical means to reel the coated wire; and means tosimultaneously stop the heating, the coating and the reeling meansthrough the actuation of a member common to-all.

7. An apparatus for treating wire comprising atank; means to move saidwire throu said tank; and means within said tank or. supporting themovingwire whlle automatically causing its movement in a d1- rectiontransverse to the longitudinal movement thereof, and permitting theentire surface thereof to receive treatment, said means including spacedbodily movable members.

8. An apparatus for treating wire comprising a tank; means-to move saidwire through said tank; and rotatable grooved means bodily movablewithin-said tankfor receiving and supporting the moving wire whilepermitting theentire surface thereof porting the moving wire whilepermitting the entire surface thereof to receive treatment.

10. An apparatus for treating wire comprising a tank; means to move saidwire through said tank; and means comprising a plurality of rollersadapted for planetary movement within said tank for supporting themoving wire while permitting the entire surface thereof to receivetreatment.

11. A drum on which wire may be simultaneously wound and unwound, saiddrum comprising means to receive the wire in spaced relation in a singlelayer, said means including spaced bodily movable members adapted torecede the wire on said drum from the point of application.

12. A rotatable drum for wire having for its face a plurality ofspirally grooved rollers each adapted to be rotated by theapplied wireonce in each revolution of the drum, the grooves of said rollersreceding the wire rom the point of application.

13. An apparatus for treating wire comprising a tank; means to move saidwire through said tank; and wire receding means comprising a pluralityof rollers each having'a helical groove in its surface and each adaptedfor planetary movement within said tank for supporting the moving wire.

14. In an apparatus for treatin wire in combination with a tank, arotata le drum therein for receiving and supporting the wire in a singlelayer of spaced turns, saiddrum including spaced bodil movable membersadapted to recede all t e turns of said coils simultaneously.

15. In an apparatus for treatin wire in combination with a tank, arotata le drum therein for receiving and sup orting said wire, said drumcomprising head; and a plurality of threaded rollers supportedtherebetween, said 'rollers geared for planetary movement.

16. An apparatus for treating wire comprising a tank; means to move saidwire through said tank; and means having planetary movement within saidtank for supportin the moving wire.

17. apparatus for treating wirecomprising a tank; means to move saidwire through said tank; and means comprising a plurality of wirereceding rollers adapted for planetary movement within said tank forsupporting the moving wire.

18. A rotatable drum for-wire having for its face a plurality of rollersadapted to be simultaneously rotated by the applied wire once in eachrevolution of the drum.

In testimony whereof I aflix my sig- PARVIN WRIGHT.

" nature.

